


Loki: Inside Out

by Arabesqueangel



Series: All The Feels [1]
Category: Inside Out (2015), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), LITERALLY, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Feels, all the feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 07:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arabesqueangel/pseuds/Arabesqueangel
Summary: Inside Out AU:Loki's managed to steal his scepter back, and now Tony's fighting flashbacks from the Chitauri invasion. But when Tony tries to blast the scepter out of Loki's hand, he's suddenly in a very strange place. He's standing in what looks like a control center with Five very different Loki's staring back at him. Where the hell is he and how the hell does he escape these oddly behaving Loki's?If he's said it once, he's said it a thousand times....Tony hates magic.





	Loki: Inside Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JanecShannon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanecShannon/gifts).



> JanecShannon posted this prompt on the Frostiron Discord and as a Disney fanatic I just had to snap it up! Once I found out it was her birthday coming up, I typed like a madwoman to get it all done in time. So Happy Birthday Janec! I hope this was something like what you had in mind!
> 
> Also, thanks to Jaxonkreide for helping with the details on the various Loki's and generally convincing me to do all the prompts, even though I may grumble and complain about it ; )
> 
> Thanks go as well to Switchknitter for reading this through and being an amazing cheerleader! 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

Tony Stark was confused. Now, as a not just self proclaimed billionaire genius, people might argue about the philanthropist and  _ he  _ might argue about the playboy these days but no one argued the genius part, one would think that Tony wasn’t often confused. However, Tony had learned to re-evaluate his expectations on shit he knew once fighting Norse deities became a thing he did on the regular. In fact, he had just been fighting said ancient Norse pain-in-his-ass, who he was absolutely blaming for his current predicament. 

Loki had just managed to steal back his scepter from SHIELD. Yeah, that had pretty much put them all to DEFCON One and had Tony strictly ignoring those space flashbacks he hadn’t quite shaken yet. Basically, this wasn’t your typical ‘Loki is throwing a fit and now they had to deal with all the cars blocking the streets surrounding Central Park turning into cats. Herding cats? Not fun. Yeah, Tony had always heard that, but now he had tangible proof of just how damn impossible it was. 

Anyway, safe to say, Loki with his scepter of laser attacks and mind control? Decidedly not awesome. So they set out to hit him fast and hard. Clint had a bloodthirsty gleam in his eye that Tony hadn’t seen for years, and considering what Loki did with that scepter last time? Couldn’t really blame him. Tony himself had mostly eased off the Loki hate. It had fizzled into an annoyed discontentment, broken up but brief moments of amusement and arousal. Except, not that last bit, or at least, not that he’d admit to anyone. But really, the guy was kind of hot, okay?

But hot didn’t mean that Tony wouldn’t kick his ass. It just meant that he’d also appreciate the view on its way down to the pavement. Surprisingly, as they fought, Loki wasn’t using the scepter like he had last time. He wasn’t pulling his punches, not by any stretch, but the fight quickly devolved into a game of keep away where Loki wasn’t using the best weapon he had, literally, at hand. 

Thor had Loki distracted, shouting something about lost brotherly affection or whatever, when Tony managed to get behind Loki. He raised his repulsor to shoot the staff out of Loki’s hand. At the last second Loki turned, a look of horror on his face. He shouted something at Tony that couldn’t be heard over the repulsor hitting the staff and the massive blowback. 

Now, Tony was… somewhere. If he had to guess, he’d go with an alien spaceship. It was a completely enclosed room with lots of buttons, various control panels and one giant ass screen that was currently black. Tony wasn’t alone either, staring at him with creepily similar looks of astonishment were five figures. They were all Loki… kind of. They all looked like Loki at their base, but most had some very odd differences. 

There was a young boy, he looked maybe ten or twelve? Tony wasn’t good with anything to do with kids. He wouldn’t even have pegged this kid as Loki if it hadn’t been for the three other copies standing right next to him demonstrating the same nose, cheekbones, chin and green eyes. The kid was smiling even. Not a feral grin or a mocking smirk, but a sunny beam that went well with his soft yellow tunic and brighter yellow trousers. 

Standing next to the kid was the Loki that Tony knew and, mostly, didn’t like. Dark scowl on his face, this Loki’s eyes glared at Tony suspiciously. His hair was slicked back and wet per usual. He was in his standard green armour, green cape billowing out behind him despite the lack of breeze. Knowing this to be the default Loki, Tony moved his attention elsewhere. 

Tony almost laughed at the next Loki, if it wasn’t for the fact that his glare was so angry that Tony was fairly sure he could feel the temperature of the room go up a few degrees. Every line of his face and his body was so tense with fury that it made Tony ache. But he was wearing armour that looked very similar to that of the other Asgardian Tony knew well. The armour itself wasn’t black and silver like Thor’s, but a blood red so dark that it was almost black, with lighter shades mixed through. However, it was the same pattern and shape of Thor’s armour right down to those six circles that Tony had no clue what their purpose was. A giant red cape jutted out from the shoulders in an effort to make this Loki look broader than the original, it too billowed in the lack of air movement like the green version. 

The next Loki was the only one not making eye contact. He was hunched in on himself as if he was trying to escape Tony’s notice. He wasn’t dressed in armour, but purple rags that hung off his frame that was slightly thinner than the rest. Greasy, lanky and long black locks hung in his face as he kept his head dipped down, helping to hide his expression. But after a few minutes of silence, this Loki looked up hesitantly and Tony flinched. Tony could see that the purple theme carried through in the dark circles under his eyes and bruise across one cheekbone. This Loki’s lip was also slightly swollen as if he’d been punched. Tony quickly moved on to the last Loki.

This one was the strangest of all. He wasn’t just wearing different clothing, he wasn’t just a different age or physical state. He was blue. His skin, and unlike the original, this Loki showed a lot of it, was a bright, clear blue. There were raised lines that swirled around his face and down his body. All he was wearing was an armoured kilt so Tony could see that they went all the way down. The eyes that stared straight into Tony were blood red all the way through; only the black pupil broke up the clear color. 

“Ok, anybody want to tell me what’s going on here?” Tony asked, mostly directing his question to the normal Loki.

“As if I would explain a thing to you, Stark.” Loki hissed. Yup, this was what Tony was used to dealing with.

“You seem like fun, maybe we could play?” Little Loki asked. His hopeful gaze was ridiculously endearing, even with Tony knowing who he was. 

“Shut up, useless creature,” the Thor-like Loki growled, immediately putting Tony’s back up.

“He shouldn’t be here. This is really bad. How could this possibly have happened? Even with the Mind Stone-” the Loki dressed in purple shuddered, tugging at his hair. 

“You shut your mouth as well,” Loki original-flavor said. “This is bad enough without revealing everything.”

Blue Loki sighed, “Of course this would happen. Loki can’t do anything right. Why do we even bother anymore?”

All the Loki’s looked at the blue one, showing various forms of dismay. Ok, this was really weird. 

“Loki, what’s the deal? Who are these guys? Where are we? What’s your master plan here? Because from what I can see, you don’t seem to have the scepter,” Tony said, taking a few steps towards the Loki he knew.

That Loki took a few steps back, “I’m not Loki.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Really? That’s the story you’re going with? Fine, I’ll bite, who are you?”

“That’s none of your concern, mortal,” Red Loki roared at him, daggers coming immediately to his hands. “You shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“The damage he could do, I can’t even fathom. And we can’t get him out of here. Only Loki can.” Purple Loki shivered uncontrollably, arms wrapped around his torso like he was trying to hold himself together. 

“For that, Loki would have to notice,” Green Loki said. 

“We need to find some way to tell him. He could figure it out and fix it. I know he can!” Yellow Loki said. 

“For that he’d have to listen to us, to any of us. He doesn’t do that anymore,” Red Loki huffed. 

“Why would he? What help could we possibly have to offer?” The blue Loki cut in. 

“I could help. I know he needs me.” The eyes above that sunny yellow tunic were shiny with unshed tears. The kid rubbed them to clear the tears and smiled softly again. “He’ll listen. We’ll get to him.”

“He listens to me,” Green Loki cut in smugly. 

Tony sensed there was something to that. Something that had to do with the reason this looked most like the Loki he knew, acted as expected when the others… didn’t.

“Sure, sometimes you can get a word in edgewise. But do you want to try the wheel? See what happens?” Thor-ish Loki grumbled. 

All five of the Loki’s eyed the massive control panel with looks of longing and dismay.

Tony’s eyes were ping-ponging between the various shades of Loki during this interchange. He was starting to sense a pattern of behavior to each of the Loki’s. The yellow one was all happy innocence. The green one was arrogance and disgust. The red one was angry and impatient. The purple one was scared and lost. The blue one was despair and resignation. It was like, if you put all these Loki’s together you created all of the moods of the actual Loki. 

As soon as the thought solidified in his head, Tony knew he was right. IQ was all about being able to detect patterns, and he had enough data for this pattern. It didn’t matter that it was batshit crazy. This was a world where he fought magic in his flying robotic suit. Sometimes, you just learned to accept things as they come and freak out about them later. 

“Are you guys trying to say… or more accurately not say, because you are Loki, that this is Loki’s head? Like you are the five aspects of his personality?” Tony asked. 

Yellow Loki grinned broadly; Green Loki squinted suspiciously; Red Loki scowled; Purple Loki cringed; Blue Loki sighed. Yup, all present and accounted for. Tony so was not qualified to deal with this. Loki needed some uber magic psychiatrist, not some broken narcissist with a hero complex. That was apparently all the notice that Tony deserved, the five Loki’s turned, gathered into a circle and started arguing with one another just low enough so that Tony couldn’t make out their conversation. Or, at least, four of them did. 

Once again, young Loki was edged out. He hopped up and down trying to get noticed, get a word in edgewise, but he may as well have not been there. Tony tried not to remember another dark haired young man, desperate for some sort of attention and recognition from the adults around him. It really wouldn’t do him any good to start empathizing with Loki. Still, when the kid turned and looked at him, shrugging his shoulders with a sad smile on his face, Tony couldn’t help but call him over. But it was only because he would probably get the best information from this one, especially when the others weren’t paying attention.

“Hi,” Yellow Loki said brightly.

“Yeah, hi. I know you aren’t Loki per se, but you do know me right?”

“Sure, you’re Tony Stark. You’re one of the Avengers.” Young Loki nodded earnestly.

“So.. shouldn’t you hate me? Like the others do?” Both Tony and the little Loki looked over at the adults talking uneasily.

“Well… Loki doesn’t hate you, any of you, not exactly,” young Loki started, but then stopped talking looking nervous. Ok, new topic.

“So, those buttons and wheels over there, it’s like a control panel thing?” Tony asked. 

He looked back towards it and suddenly realized the screen was no longer black. How long had it been like that? Currently, the screen was showing Tony a ridiculously sparse studio apartment, but that wasn’t what had grabbed his attention. He was watching Loki’s scepter twirling around. Tony caught a glimpse of pale fingers and he suddenly realized that it was like he was looking out through Loki’s eyes. So this was how the various Lokis knew him.

“Not  _ control _ , not really. More like guidance?” Little Loki responded tentatively, drawing Tony’s attention away from the screen.

Tony nodded, question answered. He looked back at the screen, but still all Loki was doing was twirling the scepter. Did he really need to rub it in? Especially since he shouldn’t have any idea Tony was here in the first place? Since there wasn’t anything Tony could do about it, his brain moved on to the next topic. 

“So, you are all aspects of Loki then? I imagine you’ve always been here, grown up with him right?”

“Well,some of them came later.” Little Loki leaned in so Tony leaned closer as well. “The jealous one, who sneers at everything? He came last.”

“Hmmm… that makes sense, no need for that stuff when you’re super little. But if he’s the ‘youngest’ why do you look so much smaller than the rest of them?”

Yellow Loki eyed the arguing group nervously. “We all started the same age. I think it’s because I don’t get the wheel as much as the others. I got to a lot at first, it was really fun!”

That kind of broke Tony’s heart. He didn’t want to ask the next question that popped into his head, but he blurted it out before he could really think about it. “When was the last time you got the console?”

Little Loki’s grin practically lit up the room, “Years ago, maybe ten or twenty? Loki and his mother went on a trip to Vanir just the two of them and not for politics or anything boring. I got to guide for a whole week!”

The way the kid said whole week, like that was the first and last time Loki had that long to be happy since he was a kid. Shit. Tony shook his head, he needed to concentrate on how to get out of here, not on how to feel bad for the supervillain.

“What’s the deal with the blue guy? Why doesn’t he look the same as the rest of you?” Ok, well maybe Tony’s curiosity was a bit out of his control. But really, it was a fair question.

“Oh, well, he didn’t always look like that. He looked like the rest of us until…” 

“What are you doing? Telling Loki’s enemy everything? You do realize he’s tried to kill us on several occasions, right?” Purple Loki had wandered over to where they were.

“But maybe if he knows…” The yellow Loki started. 

“Then what? You’re going to fix everything? Get to drive?” Green Loki started. 

Great, now they had the attention of everyone. 

“Maybe, now that Loki has the Mind Stone and can go against Thanos...”

“Don’t talk about him!” Purple Loki shrieked, looking around and above them like someone was watching. 

That was the second time they had mentioned something called the Mind Stone. The Yellow Loki said Loki Proper had it now… was that the stone in the scepter maybe? It could take over minds, it made sense. Shit, what was the plan? Anything that Loki used it for that would make him happy was probably not good for Earth.

“It’s not like it will help, anyways. Nothing can change what happened. Happiness is just a thing of the past,” the blue one intoned morosely. 

“It’s not!” Yellow Loki shouted, tears actually falling this time. “It can’t be!”

“Oh look, he’s crying again.” Green Loki yawned. 

“I don’t think he’s supposed to be able to do that,” The purple one worried. 

“He should do it elsewhere so we don’t have to listen to his whining!” The Red One growled. 

Little Loki did just that, running away to the far corner of the room, his head buried in his hands. The whole interchange made Tony uneasy and a little nauseous. He knew that it wasn’t a real kid, but something in his hind-brain still rebelled against seeing a child get hurt like that. Not to mention, Loki being this at war with himself wasn’t good. Not just for him personally, but for them trying to deal with him on any sort of rational level. This was full on crazy. 

Then again, since the botched invasion, Loki hadn’t really seemed crazy, had he? There had been no hint of all this warring below the surface. If anything, there had been a distinct lack of emotion from the god lately. Which, considering what he now knew about the panel and what asshole Loki had implied about the wheel, Loki hadn’t been guided by anything in quite a while. 

So… what? What was Tony supposed to do with this information? It probably wouldn’t get him out of Loki’s head. Was he just supposed to wait around for Loki to sense something was weird about his emotions? Or for the Avengers to figure out where he went. Was he gone? Was his physical body actually here or just his mind? There were way too many unanswered questions and not a whole lot Tony could do. Tony looked over to the sobbing little boy in the corner. Well, maybe there was one thing he could do.

*************************************************

Loki twirled the scepter in his hand giving every appearance of casual contemplation. The appearance didn’t matter, of course, since he was alone in his hideout; then again, he was always alone. Loki looked around at his base of operations. It consisted of nothing more than a bathroom, kitchen and bed. There wasn’t the slightest effort to make it look like a home, because Loki needed to make sure that he never forgot that he didn’t have a home, would never have a home again. 

Brains were tricky that way; or was it emotions? Loki had never dug into the study of the mind, more's the pity. But whichever was responsible, they wanted to lure you into a false sense of security; they didn’t follow your instructions nearly as deftly as one’s limbs did. Hence the casual twirling of the scepter. He pretended that touching the thing did not cause his stomach to roil unpleasantly, in the hopes that eventually he could trick himself into not wanting to hurl the thing across the room and curl into the fetal position. 

The Avengers had been so very concerned about Loki getting possession of it. The fools had no idea that he was probably its safest guardian. Did they even know that it had fallen into the hands of those they deemed enemies? Probably not, and Loki was certainly not going to share. Not that it mattered, anyway, as getting the Stone and escaping the Avengers had been laughably easy. 

Stark had been quite helpful in that capacity. Loki generally credited him with higher than human average intelligence, but he fell into the same faulty logic as the rest of the heroes. If you don’t like something, hit it. Idiots. There had been a brief moment of concern about how Stark’s weapon would affect the Mind Stone, well concern for how it would affect Loki at least. But there had just been a minor energy blast. Loki was merely thrown to the ground. Stark was rendered unconscious, but had looked mostly intact. His teammates had been so worried about him, that Loki had escaped easily. So, in the end, it all worked out for the best. 

Loki dropped the staff as he was suddenly overcome with emotion. At the forefront was anger and fear. Loki took a deep breath, tried to settle the heart that was suddenly racing. Loki hadn’t felt anything that strongly in years. Long days of meditation and study had saved Loki from that long ago. You can’t amplify and exploit something that doesn’t exist, right? The thought turned Loki’s attention back to the scepter that now lay on the ground. Had the Mind Stone caused this? Was it already breaking down the walls Loki had worked so hard to build up, even without a Titan to wield it?

Loki was just leaning down to pick up the scepter again when he was hit with another wave of emotion. This one, however, was tougher to pinpoint. It was strong; it felt warm, almost pleasant? Altogether, it was wholly unfamiliar and disconcerting. Especially as there was no reason for it that Loki could discern. He looked back down at the blue crystal embedded in the top of the spear; his fingers were inches away. He snatched them back quickly and got up off the bed to walk to the other side of the room. 

This wasn’t good. If Loki couldn’t even be near the stone without it affecting him, his plans were dashed before they’d even begun. He needed revenge. He needed to reduce Thanos into a mewling heap so he could finally have something approaching closure. He’d slam the door on that chapter of his life and then… well, he really wasn’t sure what he’d do then; he wasn’t even sure he cared. Maybe then he could just stop. 

“Brother,” a familiar, low grumble came from behind Loki and he visibly startled, whipping around to face Thor. 

Thor, for his part, seemed as surprised as Loki was. It had been a very long time since Thor had been able to sneak up on Loki. However, because his hideout was warded, Loki hadn’t anticipated anyone to be able to  _ find _ him, much less enter. That was to blame more than any inattentiveness on Loki’s part.

“How did you find me?” Loki asked, not even able to conjure anything more than mild irritation for his erstwhile brother at this point.

“Mother,” Thor replied. 

Of course, that would make sense. “She was able to track the Stone?”

Thor shrugged. “She didn’t say. I just told her I needed to find you and she sent me here.”

Loki hummed thoughtfully. “It must be the stone; else why hasn’t she done that before?”

“I’ve never asked before,” Thor responded.

Loki blinked at Thor for a few moments; Thor only looked back solemnly. Too solemn, actually, even for their current strained relationship. 

“Why not?” Loki scoffed. Anger and irritation were always convenient masks. 

“Do you really think I wanted to find you just to take you back to Asgard in chains to be imprisoned?” Thor asked, as if he really believed Loki shouldn’t think that. 

“Why wouldn’t you? You don’t approve of what I’ve done, certainly. You fight against me. It’s not like we have any blood relationship to connect us.”

“I’m not sure how many times I have to say this before you finally believe me, but I don’t care about blood! I care about you! Just because I don’t like what you’ve become and am constantly forced to protect the innocent against you, doesn’t mean I don’t still love you as a brother.”

Protect the innocent against him, yes of course. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t killed a single Midgardian since he escaped Thanos’s influence. There had been a few injuries, when he had to make minor mischief when he was frustrated or bored or couldn’t concentrate because of all the honking and traffic around Central Park, but no deaths. Of course, no one would notice. 

“Innocents,” Loki sneered. “There’s no such thing. Even if there were, I’d be doing them a favor by introducing them to what life really is… pain.” 

Thor’s face crumpled. “I thought I would be relieved if you ever spoke to me in something other than anger. But this cold, emptiness is far worse. Is my brother even in there anymore?”

Loki laughed bitterly. He was ready to throw something hurtful back at Thor when he decided to stop and think about the question. Was there anything left of that Loki? He wasn’t entirely sure. If there was, it was buried deep down. Hopefully, though, he had successfully cowed it out of existence altogether. 

“So what has changed? Why did you ask Frigga to seek me out now?” Loki asked once he realized he had no answer to Thor’s question.

Thor’s shoulders slumped a bit in disappointment, but he recovered quickly. “It’s Stark.”

Loki waited a moment for further clarification. None came. 

“What about Stark, and why should I care?”

“He has not yet awoken from his attack on your scepter. The Midgardians believe it is a coma, but his body started dying. All of his processes are slowly shutting down.”

“His soul is no longer in his body then,” Loki realized. Thor looked sharply at him; obviously that was more interest than Thor had expected. Loki may not care a wit about Stark, but he could never resist a puzzle. 

“Yes, that was what Mother said when she examined him.” Thor said. 

“You got the Queen of Asgard to come to Midgard to look at one little mortal?” Loki gasped, rather impressed actually. 

“Anthony Stark is more than one little mortal, but he is also beyond her help.” 

“And she thinks I can help?” Loki asked. 

Suddenly, there it was again. That warmth blooming in his chest. Filling him until he couldn’t help but recognize the feeling. Happiness. It had been so long since he had felt it, he had actually forgotten the emotion entirely. But why now? Just because the woman who lied to him his entire life thought he could help a mortal? But no, he’d been having flashes of emotion before, hadn’t he?

“She believed that it was  _ only _ you that could,” Thor clarified. 

Suddenly, Loki got the impression that these flashes of emotion were not a coincidence. Just in time to be hit with another one. 

“Why are you smiling?” Thor asked suspiciously. 

Loki wiped all expression from his face. This was very inconvenient to be dealing with just as he was working on his revenge. It was annoying, and disconcerting as well. At that thought, it hit him. Of course, it was Stark. Somehow, his consciousness was loose and he was using that to mess with Loki; likely with the assistance of the Mind Stone, damn it. 

“I’m smiling because you are going to owe me, Thor. I will help Stark and when you see me next, you will help me with whatever I ask.” 

“I will not hurt any innocents for you.” Thor said. “Anyone  _ I _ believe is innocent.” He clarified. 

“That was smart, but no. I’m not so foolish as to think I could trap you into something like that. No, what I have in mind would not hurt any of your new moral sensibilities.” Loki couldn’t resist rolling his eyes. 

“Why do I feel like you agreed to this far too easily?” 

“Because while you are an oaf, you aren’t completely ignorant.” Loki smiled again, but this one had no happiness behind it. “But don’t worry. Your shield brother will be returned to you. That’s all that matters, yes?”

“I suppose…” Thor said uncertainly, obviously trying to work through if Loki had said anything he should be concerned about. 

“Then leave me in peace; I’ll need to meditate.” Loki shooed Thor to the door. 

Thor went, reluctantly, and when he was just about to close the door behind him, Loki called out. 

“And Thor?” 

“Yes?” 

“You may want to make sure there’s no honking in the surrounding area, unless you’d like to deal with something more annoying than a glaring of cats.”

Thor’s eyes widened in surprise, and he nodded quickly before closing the door. 

Loki chuckled, feeling genuinely amused for the first time in a very long time. Then he sighed. He needed to figure out how to find Stark so it would stop. 

*********************************************

The others had left Tony and young Loki alone for a while. Tony started with just having the little yellow Loki tell stories of happy times. Then Tony shared some of his few and far between good stories from his childhood. But then, it got a little depressing when they were both struggling to think of new stories far too quickly. There wasn’t anything Tony could see that would pass for a toy, so Tony settled on riddles. 

Tony probably should have been able to guess that they would be a hit. He never would have guessed how much of one though. Sure, he knew Loki was smart. He also knew all kinds of magic, which probably meant he was far more in the nerd category than jock. It probably took a lot of study, but it was more than just the desire to flex his brain. Tony could see in Loki that hunger for someone to see it; for recognition and attention that he probably didn’t get with someone like Thor for an older brother. Once more, interacting with this innocent, completely unguarded version of Loki touched things in Tony that he really hadn’t wanted to delve into, but couldn’t regret now that he had. 

Tony was just finishing up going through all the riddles from The Hobbit when the assholes started getting loud. Tony turned to see that Thor had appeared on the screen. The four Loki’s walked over to the screen to offer their color commentary on the conversation. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t anything Tony hadn’t expected. He’d heard enough of Loki’s insults and accusations throughout the years to get the basic gist of their relationship. 

“How do you feel about that?” Tony asked Yellow Loki. 

The boy shrugged. “We love Thor and miss him,” was all he said. 

Then Tony’s name came up and all ten eyes were now on him. Tony however, was a bit distracted by hearing about his imminent death to wonder what they were thinking. Shit. He needed to get out of here and fast. He didn’t give a damn what Thor or his mom said, Loki was not going to help one of his enemies. Except that... he was. For a favor from Thor he said he was going to help. Then Thor left and the screen went black.

“What is he doing? How could he possibly agree to this? He could have one of the Avengers, his biggest obstacles, dead!” Red Loki growled.

“Yeah, thanks buddy. Love you too!” Tony smiled and pointed at him mockingly, but he couldn’t help thinking the red one had a point. Tony couldn’t imagine any favor from Thor that would be more valuable than taking out an enemy.

“Loki’s never liked killing, not ever,” young Loki insisted.

“Yes, but technically, this isn’t killing. The idiot did it to himself. This would just be letting him pay the price,” Green Loki corrected. 

It was really damn annoying when Loki was all logical like this. 

“Unless he suspects that Stark is here, that he knows he could cause trouble mess up the delicate balance.” Purple Loki shuddered. 

“What delicate balance? All we do is argue and it’s all pointless because he never listens anyway,” Green Loki responded. 

“Even if he did listen, what could we really do but cause him pain? It’s better this way.”

“Not if we could make him happy!” Young Loki cut in, but Tony knew exactly where that would go. 

“Happy doesn’t help. Happy isn’t going to stop Thanos, won’t get us our revenge, won't make us Asgardian…” The red one shouted, advancing on young Loki who stepped a few paces back. Tony very subtly put himself next to the kid, ready to jump in if necessary.

There was a small gasp behind Tony and he whirled around. Standing there was… Loki. A sixth Loki. This one, though, was wearing black jeans and a green sweater. He looked comfortable and casual, or at the very least like a model in a magazine trying to look comfortable and casual. Somehow, maybe it was the Earth clothes, maybe it was the look of horror or more likely it was the shocked faces of the other 5 Lokis, but Tony suspected this was THE Loki. 

Yellow Loki went running towards the original and grabbed his waist in a tight hug. 

“I’m so very happy to see you!” He cried. 

Loki looked completely dumbstruck, blinking down at this young version of himself. Then he looked up, his eyes skimming over the rest of the Loki’s growing even tenser by the moment. 

“Norns, where the Hel am I?” Loki whispered.

“You don’t know?” Tony asked. Somehow he figured that Loki would know exactly what was going on. Obviously this was some kind of magic thing and that was much more Loki’s shtick. 

“Would I ask if I did?” Loki snapped at him. “I just sent my astral form to wherever your consciousness was and it took me here.”

“Oh, um, right. Well then this is going to be super awkward.” Tony said hesitantly. Then he cleared his throat. “Loki, meet you or the various emotions that make your sparkling personality.”

Loki pulled the young one off him and took a few steps back, shaking his head. “I don’t understand.”

He looked so damn vulnerable, a word Tony never would have applied to Loki in the past. He looked like Tony was on the brink of shattering his entire world. Tony wasn’t entirely sure that he wasn’t, but Loki had to know right? Tony looked down at the Yellow Loki, the happy Loki, standing so lost and alone, yet with hope shining in his big green eyes. All the other Loki’s turned to Tony as well, like he was the one who was supposed to explain their existence. Yeah, because that couldn’t possibly go wrong. 

“Uh… maybe you want to introduce yourselves? Do you have names?” Tony asked.

“Why would we have names?” Green Loki asked with a roll of his eyes.

Fine then. Tony was just going to go for it. 

“So, yeah. Far as I can figure, that’s petty, spiteful, jealous Loki.” Tony started, nodding to the green one. “Then you have angry Loki, then you have scared Loki, sad Loki and happy Loki.”

Tony gestured toward the little one. He figured that shorter was probably better. There was just about a 95% chance he was going to be stabbed before all of this was over, anyways, no need to bump it up to 98%.

“No, no, that’s impossible. That’s not me.” Loki took a step forward, brandishing an accusing finger towards Blue Loki. “You are not me!”

“Saying it won't change anything. We may not like it, but this is who you were meant to be.” Blue Loki shrugged sadly. 

“No, I won’t be a monster.” Loki held his hands out in front of him like he was fending off an attack. 

He took a step back and stumbled, falling on his bottom painfully. Loki took that opportunity to curl into a ball. He wasn’t quite rocking back and forth, but he was panting. Tony had enough experience to sense what was coming. If he didn’t snap Loki out of it, this was going to turn into a full blown panic attack. 

“Loki,” Tony said softly. 

“You can’t make me,” Loki whispered, not even looking up at Tony. 

“Loki,” Tony said more firmly. 

“Why is this happening? I haven’t felt this since…” Loki trailed off in a wheeze as his breathing stuttered. 

“Thanos?” Tony guessed. 

That did it. Loki looked up at him then. His breathing had stopped, but now it was slowing down to something more manageable. Unfortunately, Loki was now looking at him with an expression of utter rage. 

“You!” Loki screamed. “This is your fault, Stark. You did something to me. I will get you for this!”

There was a few steps and a growl behind Tony. It wasn’t much but it was enough to get his attention and he turned, just missing Red Loki’s fist. 

“Shit! Ah, come on big guy, I thought we were just starting to get along,” Tony stammered, walking backwards and hoping he didn’t fall on his ass like Loki had. 

Red Loki practically roared back at him, conjuring daggers and advancing far more quickly than Tony could manage. He was only human. Tony was starting to wonder what would happen to his actual body if his consciousness got stabbed by an emotion’s dagger and how, wasn’t that just the weirdest concept ever contemplated, when-

“No!” Young Loki dashed in front of him taking the dagger Red Loki had thrown into his stomach. 

“F...udge,” Tony cursed. Yeah, genius, like language was really the main issue here. Tony grabbed the boy to keep him from falling, wondering what the hell kind of damage the knife was going to cause. He was surprised to find Yellow Loki struggling out of his grip.

The little boy pulled the dagger out of his stomach and tossed it to the ground where it promptly dissipated. There was no bleeding, no cut in the yellow cloth, nothing. Oh, well, that was something, at least. But Tony got the feeling it would have been different if he had been on the pointy end of that knife.

“That was mean!” Yellow Loki advanced on Red Loki. “He’s only trying to help. You don’t just go around stabbing people who are trying to help.”

“Words to live by,” Tony muttered and got an absolutely chilling glare from Red Loki. 

“What do you mean trying to help? He’s an Avenger. He fights Loki all the time,” Green Loki pointed out. 

“That was before he knew us! He told me really nice stories and we did riddles and he tried to stop the panic attack. He’s really, really nice and he can help!”

Tony actually started to blush a bit. That so wasn’t him. He just felt bad for the little guy and wasn’t sure what else to do with his time. Sure, there was that selfish bit in the back of his brain that wondered getting some positive associations with Loki might do them some good in the future, but none of that made him what Yellow Loki was implying. 

“Did you… were you trying to help?” The real Loki asked, looking at him like he had never seen Tony before. 

Tony shrugged. “Kind of? I can’t say I’m not curious. This whole, Thanos and Mind Stone thing. The way Purple Loki looks. I can’t help but put some pieces together and think that maybe we don’t really know everything that’s been going on. And I can’t help but notice that since your invasion, your death and destruction has gone down to just about nil, so obviously there’s a story there.”

“You noticed that?” Loki asked, wide-eyed and starting to stand from where he had finally unwrapped his arms from his legs. 

“Yeah, I mean. No one else seems to get it, but I figured this was my chance to get the real story.”

Loki looked at the five different colors that made up his personality. All of the shades of Loki, as it were. He didn’t look mad or panicked anymore, just contemplative. This was it, maybe they could make some inroads here. Maybe Tony could get the real story and then he could rub it in all the other Avengers face. He was smart, not mature. Tony held his breath expectantly as Loki turned back to him, a small smile on his face.

Suddenly, Tony was opening his eyes to a white ceiling. He startled and sat up quickly, grunting as all his muscles protested the movement. He felt like he had just been sparring with Thor. But he propped himself up, looked around and groaned. A hospital, of course, he was in a hospital. It was the one place that he liked being less than Loki’s head. And wasn’t that just crazy? That he would prefer being in that chaos to this. 

“Damn it, Loki,” Tony muttered. 

“Tony, you’re alright!” Steve rushed over to the side of the bed, looking all worried. It was kind of flattering actually. 

“I’m alright. Loki’s an asshole, but I’m alright.” 

“Loki saved you,” Thor said from a chair in the corner of the room, drawing Tony’s attention. The god was beaming. 

“He’s still an asshole,” Tony growled, but there was very little menace in it. 

“But he’s still my brother,” Thor said. And maybe someone who hadn’t been privy to Loki and Thor’s conversation would have thought nothing of that statement. Thor was always defending Loki when the team insulted him. But now Tony knew there was more to it than that.

“What happened to you, Tony?” Steve asked. “Thor’s mom said that your consciousness was elsewhere. Where was it?”

Sure, Tony could tell. Thor, in particular, should probably know. But Tony just couldn’t.

“I’m not really sure. All I know is Loki showed up, explained absolutely nothing and now here I am.” Tony said. It wasn’t  _ really _ a lie; it wasn’t really the truth either, but close enough. 

“That does sound like Loki,” Thor said. 

“Other than the saving him part. Honestly, Thor, I really didn’t think he would do it.” Steve put in.

Thor just smiled knowingly. 

“Ok, I’m out of here. Ten minutes is too long to be awake in a hospital bed,” Tony said. Only groaning a little, he started to laboriously work himself out of the bed.

“Tony, all of your organs were shutting down. You just regained consciousness. At least wait until the doctor checks you out,” Steve protested.

“I don’t feel like my organs are shutting down,” Tony argued. And Tony had first hand experience as to how that felt. “I’ll wait five minutes for someone to come, then I’m out of here.”

Steve must have taken Tony’s threat seriously, because he went jogging out to find a nurse. That left Tony and Thor awkwardly alone in the room. Tony wasn’t overly comfortable with the searching look Thor was giving him. 

“So Loki told you… nothing?” Thor asked. 

“Hmmm? Oh, nope, nothing. He showed up; I asked a lot of questions and instead of getting an answer I woke up in this bed. Your brother is weird… and annoying.”

“Yes, he can be.” Thor said, but he was still smiling. “And now I owe him a favor.”

Tony whistled. “Think he’s going to make you regret that?”

“Very likely,” Thor said with a laugh. 

And yeah, Tony definitely thought that. But somehow, he didn’t think Loki would have Thor do anything bad. He would just make the process as frustrating and humiliating as possible. Tony rolled his eyes, but inwardly because that would be weird otherwise. He was acting like all of a sudden he knew Loki. Yeah, he had a bit more insight than previously, but he still didn’t actually know anything. Maybe he should change that?

**************************************************

Loki wasn’t surprised when there was a knock on his door. Not like he had been when Thor barged in. The knock certainly helped. The fact that he was expecting the visit contributed as well. So, Loki opened the door and gave his visitor a bland, distant smile. 

“Can I help you?” Loki asked smoothly.

His visitor laughed in his face. But then again, Tony Stark wasn’t exactly known for his manners. “Um… I feel like I should be asking you that, considering you saved my life.”

“It was only to obtain a favor from Thor, no need to thank me. Unless you’d like to offer me a favor as well?” 

Stark stepped by Loki and walked into the room. He looked around for a few moments before seating himself on the bed. 

“You know, I thought about that actually. How is it that we haven’t been able to track you down for years. Then, all of a sudden, I decide to look again and there you are, plain as day? You forget to turn your security system on?”

“Hmmm… I must have. Silly me. I’ll be sure to correct that. What a nice favor, Stark.” Loki said lightly. 

Loki had to speak lightly, having Stark in the room with him was uncomfortable, more than uncomfortable. The emotions hadn’t stopped since Loki had saved Stark a few days ago. He hadn’t tried to stop them, either. He didn’t enjoy being nervous or angry or sad, but after so long of feeling nothing at all, it was almost refreshing. Then there was that little flash of warmth, that ping of happiness when he saw Stark at the door. That was the most terrifying emotion of them all. 

“You trying to get rid of me? Because I don’t believe it. See, for all those little people in your head seemed to not want to explain things, they let a lot slip. I know that whatever is in your scepter is called the Mind Stone. I also know you are terrified of some dude called Thanos. I figure he’s the one who gave it to you along with the Chitari. So why would you be so afraid of him? Want to explain some things, Reindeer Games?” Stark leaned on Loki’s bed like he didn’t have a care in the world; like he was perfectly comfortable being alone and armorless with a villain. 

“If I am trying to get rid of you? If I don’t want to explain anything to an enemy?” Loki tested, not trusting this open friendliness. 

“Then I’ll leave. I’ll figure you need more time. Then I’ll ask you to coffee. Maybe even lunch or a movie. If you aren’t willing to explain anything to an enemy, maybe you’d be willing to explain to a friend.”

Loki could not have been more startled. Stark couldn’t possibly be serious. Why, even after seeing everything in Loki’s head, maybe  _ especially _ after seeing everything in Loki’s head, could he possibly want to spend time together? Was his curiosity  _ that _ pervasive? Did he feel like he needed the answers to what had happened during the invasion _ that  _ badly? Or was it something else? There was that treacherous hope again. 

It couldn’t hurt to play Stark’s game could it? Loki could stay on his guard. Feed Stark only the information he was willing to give. Test this ‘friendship’ and see where it went. Yes, cold and analytical. That was how Loki would go about this. If he was excited at the prospect, it was only at the challenge of matching his wits against Stark. 

“If there is anything I enjoy about Midgard, it is caffeine. A coffee wouldn’t go awry. I’m busy at the moment. Tomorrow perhaps?” Loki asked. See how Stark’s tune would change after a day of contemplation.

“Awesome! It’s a date!” Stark said brightly, getting up from the bed and taking a step towards the door. There was a pause as Stark seemed to think of something. Then he shrugged and turned back around. 

Stark grabbed Loki’s collar. Loki hadn’t been expecting it and his head was easily tugged down so that Tony could kiss him. It was just a soft press of the lips, because Loki pulled away almost immediately in surprise. What was this ridiculous mortal playing at? There was a soft smile on Stark’s face as his eyes opened back up. That look caused some fluttering emotion that Loki hadn’t felt in a  _ very  _ long time. 

“Why in the realms would you do that?” Loki spluttered. 

“I don’t know. I just  _ felt _ like it I guess?” Stark said casually. “Maybe you should go into my brain? Figure it out for yourself.”

Stark grinned obviously proud of himself for such a clever line. Then patted Loki’s ass! The god was still confused enough that it didn’t even occur to him to stab Stark for taking such liberties. He would never admit he liked it, however. Loki just continued to stare as Stark turned once again to walk out the door. 

“I don’t think even the God of Chaos could manage what would be in your head, Stark,” Loki called out to him. 

Stark laughed, turned his head for a wink and then walked out and closed the door. It had been so long since Loki had done something so simple and pleasing as making someone laugh. He had forgotten how much he had enjoyed it. Oh, Stark was dangerous all right. Inspiring so much that Loki hadn’t felt in too long. Oddly, the thought didn’t scare Loki. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow. 


End file.
